KOTA SAMARAHAN : Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) and OpenLearning Global (M) Sdn. Bhd. have signed a Letter of Intent for collaboration to set up the OpenLearning-Unimas Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Research Fund. Deput y Vi ce Chancel lor o f Unima s (Ac ademi c and International), Professor Dr Wan Hashim Wan Ibrahim was present to witness the signing ceremony on behalf of the Vice Chancellor.
The signing marked yet another strategic partnership between the two entities in spearheading research to enhance the quality of teaching and learning and the mobilisation of Education 4.0 in Unimas and Sarawak. OpenLearning Global’s CEO, Adam Brimo, noting the successful implementation of the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) at Unimas, said it was timely to focus on other key areas to improve the quality of MOOCs as well as research on the learning analytics.
In line with its strategic focus to provide excellent education and training, the university, through the Centre for Applied Learning and Multimedia (CALM), has officially started the SoTL initiative by introducing the Unimas SoTL grant in 2016. Embarking on SoTL shows that university is emphasising on the importance of promoting and cultivating excellence and innovation in university teaching through active research.
The availability of this grant allows academics to explore different innovative approaches to revolutionising the teaching quality and learning experience in Unimas. With the signing of the Letter of Intent to initiate the collaboration, OpenLearning Global (M) Sdn. Bhd. will be the first external organisation to provide seed funds amounting to RM20,000 for Unimas academics to focus on SoTL research that is geared towards technology-enhanced learning, particularly pertaining to MOOCs and its related areas such as Social Learning Design, ePortfolios and iCGPA, and e-Learning in the Asean region.
